Comatose
by Problems911
Summary: After a horrible incident, Gaara is put into a coma and Naruto is an emotional wreck. Just how cruel is life going to be? (GaaNaru/NaruGaa)
1. Chapter 1

**Comatose (Who's Fault is It?)**

* * *

A loud crack echoes through the room, bouncing off the walls until the sound finally fades away. A blonde teenager stands in front of his wall, cradling his injured hand. On the wall was a hole, the size of someone's fist. The blonde teenager's fist to be exact.

His hand hurt, ached with a burning pain. It probably wouldn't have hurt so much if he hadn't put his thumb inside his fist. That's a common thing _not_ to do when punching, isn't it? Well, he did it anyways. Now his hand hurt.

Something wet rolls down his face and onto the carpet floor. The blonde uses his good hand in order to wipe his eyes. Tears. He was crying. And soon, he was sobbing. The boy sinks down to the floor, resting his head on the wall, and cries.

He wasn't crying because his hand hurt. No, he had been through much worse that and didn't cry. The blonde was crying over his best friend. His best friend that was in a coma in the hospital. His best friend...

The blonde chokes and starts to wipe away the tears. But they keep coming, like his eyes were running faucets that were stuck and couldn't be turned off. That wasn't worst part though. The worst part was how weak he felt because he wasn't able to help. How could one accident suddenly just wipe away all the strength he originally had?

"Damn it!" he screams and quickly gets to his feet. The blonde grabs something from the top of his dresser and throws it at a wall. It was a small lamp, now it's completely shattered and broken. Useless. A feeling that keeps nagging at him.

The teenaged boy growls in frustration before kicking over a chair at his desk while swearing loudly. He kicks it to the wall and then goes over to his unmade bed. Collapsing on to it, the blonde curls up into a tight ball and closes his eyes, hoping to simply ignore everything for just a little while.

His hand still hurt, but not as much as it originally did. Pain from injuries never really lasted long. He always was able to heal fairly quickly.

Why couldn't it have been him instead? If he was put into a coma, surely he would be able to make through easily. He was fairly certain of that if could heal so fast. But Gaara, his best friend, would he be able to pull through? Would he make it out of the coma at all?

The blonde's face scrunches up at these thoughts. They keep bothering him, stinging in his brain like a swarm of angry wasps. He hated it. He hated everything right now. Just simply hated everything for a small moment of time.

Those bastards. He especially hated them. It was all their fault. They are the ones that put his best friend in the hospital, in that freaking coma! But was it really their fault? He had actually provoked them into acting the way they did. Gaara just happened to get the actual punishment instead.

So it was his fault, wasn't it...?

The blonde clenches his fists tightly, making his injured hand cry out in a sharp pain. But he ignores it. It was his fault. His friend was in the hospital with a coma because he provoked people that shouldn't have been provoked. They told him to buzz off, Gaara said they should just leave now, but he was in one of those moods. He was pissed off and those two guys just happened to be there. And now Gaara is...

"I'm so sorry!" he cries out. "I'm so sorry, Gaara. I'm so sor-" The teenager doesn't finish his apology because he chokes on his own sobs.

He couldn't take this, not at all. It's like his inner self is being torn apart from all of these emotions he's feeling. Anger, sadness, guilt, rage, depression, and so much more. The human body isn't designed for this amount of feelings, is it? It feels terrible, so much stress. It _hurt._

The blonde sniffs and pulls the blankets up over his head. He lays there, crying his heart out. Eventually, the tears stop coming, and he falls asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Comatose (A Family's Comfort)**

* * *

Outside his bedroom, just outside his door, there's this mumbling of two people. It's his parents, just mumbling to themselves. Mumbling about him. He could hear it.

_Why won't they go away?_ he asks himself. _I just want to be left alone. Can't they understand that?_

The teenager grabs the blankets and holds them close to his chest. He didn't want to talk to anybody right now. Unless they had good news about his best friend pulling through, he wasn't getting up and talking.

"Naruto?" a soft voice calls as they tap lightly on his door. "We need to talk." It was his mom. The blonde bites his lower lip so he doesn't say anything. He didn't like shutting out his mom, unless they were both mad at each other. But he wasn't mad at her, and she wasn't mad at him. Maybe she would go away if he doesn't answer and think that he's simply sleeping.

Naruto hears the door knob turn, allowing the passage to his room to be opened. He didn't like that. "Naruto, we're coming inside."

_We're_. That means his dad is coming in as well. It'd be easier if it was just his mom. Naruto didn't want to break down in front of them both, something he was sure to happen. That's why he wanted to be left alone. All that would happen is that he would just fall apart and cry again.

He hears the creaking open of his door and footsteps coming towards his bed. They were inside now, and they wanted to talk to him. The blonde resists the urge groan. Why can't they understand that he wanted to be left alone?

_Knew I should have locked the door!_ Naruto berates himself.

A tsk comes from the end of his bed, and soon someone is sitting down. That sounded like his mom. Then he hears a sigh that was too close. Above him, his dad stands with a concerned look.

Naruto tightens his grip on the blankets. He was glad he stayed under there, unable to see the concerned look that he was sure was on both his parents' faces. The blonde didn't want to see it.

"Naruto, sit up. We really need to talk," his dad says.

"No we don't," Naruto retorts hoarsely. His throat hurt from earlier, when he kept sobbing and choking. It was scratchy and painful.

"Please?" his mother asks. Her voice held something that always manages to coax him into speaking about whatever was bothering him. He hated it, but at the same time, he appreciated it. It was a complicated thing.

Naruto sighs quietly and sits up in the bed. The blankets fall down to his waist and he sees his mother on the other end on the bed. His father his on the side, but standing. They both share those concerned looks that he _knew_ they would have on their faces.

"I know it's a stupid thing to ask, but...how do you feel?" she asks. The blonde looks at her, and notices that her red hair is pulled up into a pony-tail, but long locks of it are still framing her face. She was beautiful, no wonder his dad married her.

"Well," Naruto looks away, towards the broken lamp behind his dad. That's probably what the tsk and sigh from earlier meant. His nails dig into the palms of his hand, the one hand with a small throbbing sensation. Very small, hardly noticeable. Did he _have_ to answer that?

Both his parents give him a look, as if they read his mind. Yes, he had to answer that question. It might relieve some of the stress he was feeling. Might. He doubted it though.

The blonde opens his mouth, ready to answer, but he quickly closes it. He could feel the tears well up in his eyes, ready to spill down his face any moment. No, he didn't want to cry. He couldn't, not right now. He-

The first tear rolls down his cheek and lands on his blanket. A small dark spot can be seen, and soon, Naruto's arms are wrapped around his mother. He breaks down and just sobs on his mom's shoulder, tears staining her shirt.

"I-I...h-he-" the sentences weren't coming out of his mouth, they weren't forming correctly. All he can do is cry.

His mother wraps her arms around her son, embracing him, humming a little, soothing tune. Another pair of arms wraps around the both of them, Naruto's dad. The whole family just stays there, hugging each other. That was the only thing they could do at the moment.

Just be there for each other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Comatose (The Need to be Happy)**

* * *

Naruto wakes up with a jolt. He stands straight up onto his feet and scans the room for a different presence. Nothing, no one. The blonde sighs and sits down in the chair he had apparently fallen asleep in.

It was a memory, but twisted around into a horrible nightmare. Saturday afternoon, blue sky, sun shining bright, just the two of them. Naruto and Gaara were just taking a walk, enjoying the afternoon sun. The blonde was still in a rotten mood from Friday.

So when these two guys come along, Naruto just released all of his frustrations. They came after him, Gaara got in the way, but instead of him being put into a coma, they killed him. That's what woke the blonde up.

Naruto looks to his right and clenches his fists tightly, his nails digging into the palms of his hands. But he doesn't care, it doesn't bother him. What does bother him, is his best friend in this hospital bed, in a coma.

Several tubes were hooked up to him, a beeping machine on the other side of the hospital bed. Bandages were wrapped around his head from where one of the guys hit him with their gun. A good solid hit was all it took to-

The blonde bites his tongue, _hard_. He yelps in pain and covers his mouth with his hands. A metallic taste forms in his mouth and he grimaces. What was he doing here? Just torturing himself. The blonde sets his hands down on his lap and glances at the clock.

He needed to be at school. It was already twenty minutes past nine, first period is already over. No, he wasn't going to just skip school today. Naruto promised himself that he would try to go to school and be productive and get things done. But with his mind clouded, that probably wasn't going to be possible.

Naruto gets up and walks over to the other side of the hospital bed and crouches down. Gaara's eyes were closed, like he was just sleeping peacefully. The blonde grinds his teeth together because he knows that isn't the case, not at all. He raises his hand and absent mindedly traces the scarred kanji for love on his friend's forehead.

There a few years of hardship in the past…

Naruto's dad works highly in the business world, as well as Gaara's dad. When he was little, the blonde's dad would take his son to work with him sometimes. And every once in a while, Gaara and his siblings would be there too. The two kids managed to become relatively good friends.

But then Gaara moved away, and Naruto didn't see him for years. Apparently, Gaara's uncle committed suicide. He went into a serious depression and got into serious trouble. Years later, Gaara's family moved back here. Naruto found out that they were going to the same high school and managed to bring his old friend back.

That was just a year ago. Now, here he is, in the hospital in a coma. And it was Naruto's fault. The blonde feels the tears well up in his eyes and he quickly rubs his face with the sleeve of his jacket.

Naruto stands up straight and grabs his backpack and slings over his shoulder. He heads to the door, and before he can grab the handle, the door opens. The blonde freezes when he sees two familiar people on the other side.

Gaara's older brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari.

The blonde stands there, unmoving. The air suddenly becomes hard to breathe in, Naruto feels like he's suffocating. The two siblings open their mouths, about to say something. Naruto gulps, worried that they know whose fault it actually was. Before they could say anything, Naruto rushes past them in fear and guilt.

As soon as he comes out from the hospital doors and out into the outside world, Naruto breaks into a run. He runs down the sidewalks, pushing people out of the way. The blonde just needs to get to school, that was all. He needed to get away from the hospital and the people inside of it right now. That was all. That was all…

Naruto finally reaches the school building and dashes inside. He calms himself down before walking into the office. The blonde lies to Shizune about being late, telling her that he slept in and had to walk to school. Well, some of that was true. Shizune gives him a pass to his next class, third period. Already about ten minutes into class.

The blonde goes to his locker and puts up his stuff while grabbing the things for third period. The halls were quiet, no one around. In the back of his mind, Naruto hears the beeping of the machine. He grinds his teeth together and slams his locker shut and proceeds to his class.

Looking through the little window in the door, Naruto sees Iruka giving a lesson about some mathematical thing that he really didn't care about. Naruto knocks on the wooden door and all the kids in the class turn and stare at him. Iruka waves his hand, signalling for him to come inside.

Everyone's eyes follow his every movement as Naruto goes to give his teacher the pass. Then their eyes follow him to his seat at the back of the room, near the window. When he sits down, they look back at Iruka. Naruto breathes out quietly and stares out the window.

Eventually, the bell rings, and that meant lunch time for Naruto. The blonde gets up out of his seat and starts to walk out of the room, following everyone else. But his teacher wasn't going to let him off easy.

"Naruto, come here and talk for a minute," Iruka says. The blonde cringes, but does as he is told anyways.

"What is it?" Naruto asks, impatience in his voice. Maybe coming to school was a bad idea. He should have just stayed home, take a sick day. It would've been easier that way. But no. He's an idiot and goes to school even though he's an emotional wreck right now.

"I noticed that you weren't paying attention to the lesson. What's bothering you?" Iruka asks. Naruto stuffs his hands into his pockets so his teacher couldn't see him clench his fists in anger. Why is everyone so nosey?

"My best friend's in the hospital. And I'm just stressed out," the blonde says, looking away. His teacher gives him a concerned look. That same look that his parents had on their faces yesterday. That concerned look is starting to piss him off now.

"I see...Well, just have hope and I'm sure everything will be fine," Iruka gives the blonde an encouraging smile. Naruto smiles half-heartedly and takes his leave. He just wanted to get on with day.

After putting his things away in his locker, Naruto finds himself walking to Gaara's locker out of habit. He sighs, blinks several times to keep any tears away, and goes to the cafeteria. Once he gets his lunch, he sits at an empty table out of awkwardness. Suddenly, he felt like the new kid with no friends.

But he did have friends! Just, everything felt so different, awkward. Nothing felt the same anymore. It was weird, it wasn't right. That's when someone sits across from him. Naruto looks up and sees a boy his age with red fang marks and brown hair. Kiba Inuzuka.

"What are you doing over here, all by yourself?" Kiba asks as he takes a bite out of his sandwich. He glares at it soon afterwards because of its lack of flavor.

"I don't really know," Naruto sighs and scratches the back of his neck. "I just suddenly felt awkward. I just- I don't know."

Soon, more of the blonde's friends come and sit at the table. And the awkward feeling that Naruto had earlier quickly disappears. But there was still a part of his mind that was focused on Gaara. That part that was full of sadness, anger, guilt, and worry. All those emotions locked up in one single part of his mind, ready to take over and tear him apart and break him down. It wasn't healthy. But he needed to be happy right now with his friends.

He _needed_ to be.


	4. Chapter 4

**Comatose (Not Going to Make It)**

* * *

**Trigger Warning: Self Harm**

* * *

The rest of the school day passes by fairly quickly. Naruto tries to keep a smile on his face like he normally would. During the classes, he would completely zone out and stare out the window. That was something he doesn't normally do. Normally, he complains about not understanding what is going on.

The last bell rings at the end of seventh period, signalling that the school day is over and everyone can go home now. Naruto puts his things into his backpack and starts to walk home. He debated about going to the hospital, but he decided against it. The blonde just wants to go home and sleep.

After a while of simply walking, Naruto realizes where exactly he is. He's in the same place that he was in with Gaara and those two guys on Saturday…

* * *

_"You complain too much. Can we just walk in peace like we were originally going to?" Gaara sighs heavily. Naruto has been going on and on about these jackasses at school. They're always messing with other kids, and on Friday, Naruto caught them messing with Hinata._

_"I know, but! They were just- **ugh!** I mean, what the hell did Hinata ever do? She is like the sweetest girl I know! Why the hell would they mess with her? I don't understand!" the blonde shouts in anger. Gaara frowns._

_"It's because she's sweet that they pick on her, you know. They think she won't fight back," the redhead explains. Naruto grinds his teeth together and continues to rage on. Gaara sighs quietly through his nose. When the blonde gets into these moods, it takes forever for him to get out of them. It's like he's permanently pissed off or something._

_The redhead looks up at the blue sky, letting the sun shine down on his face. Naruto's complaints just become a part of the background, allowing him to ignore it. Then he lowers his head back down and continues walking beside his friend._

_As they walked along, Naruto moving onto a different discussion about how Ichiraku Ramen was the best there was, two guys showed up, walking the opposite direction. One had long, blonde hair, and the other had short, red hair._

_The two younger boys move over to the side, but the blonde guy brushes shoulders against Naruto. The younger blonde mutters something under his breath and turns around. That action just grates his nerves for some reason._

_"Hey! Who do you think you are?" Naruto shouts at the two guys, mainly talking to the blonde one. They both turn around, the blonde guy with an ice-cold glare, and the redhead with a lazy expression, like he was stoned or something._

_"A guy walking on the sidewalk. Got a problem with it?" the blonde guy smirks. The stoned looking one just shakes his head. Naruto narrows his eyes._

_"Come on, Deidara. Let's just keep moving," he says._

_Naruto starts to move forward, itching to give this guy a good punch to the face. But Gaara grabs a hold of him and tries to keep away from the stranger._

_"Aww, but Sasori, look. He wants to fight so badly," Deidara points out. Sasori sighs heavily, not wanting to be a part of this any longer. He'd much rather just keeping going on his way._

_"Naruto, just get **over** it and let's just go home!" Gaara growls in frustration, trying to keep Naruto from lunging at the blonde guy. "You don't need to be fighting!"_

_"Let me go!" Naruto snaps. He manages to get out of his friend's grasp and charges at Deidara. But he pulls out something from his pocket and points it at the younger blonde, causing Naruto to freeze in his tracks._

_It was a gun._

_Gaara's body just moves. He gets in front of Naruto and pushes him away from the older blonde. Deidara smirks and swiftly swings his arm, making the gun hit the younger redhead at the back of the head. Gaara blacks out and collapses, Naruto just barely catches him before he hits the concrete ground._

_"**Shit!** Deidara, you moron!" Sasori grabs Deidara and shoves him the original direction they were going and they both dash out of sight._

_Naruto sits down on the sidewalk, keeping Gaara's head from touching the ground. He shakes him a bit, trying to get him to wake up. But Gaara does nothing, and when Naruto feels something hot and wet on his hands and fingers, he pauses._

_The blonde shifts in order to looks at his hand now covered in a thick, crimson liquid. Blood. It was blood. **Gaara's** blood. Naruto panics and tries to pull out his phone to call 911. He dials the number and waits, taking nervous glances at his friend._

_"Hang in there, Gaara," Naruto says in a shaky voice. "Just hang in there, okay? Just hang in there…"_

* * *

Naruto jumps at a sound and looks around. He spies a cat that looks at him and hisses and dashes away. The blonde takes a deep breath continues walking, this time paying attention to where he was going.

The blonde walks home without any problems and notices that both his parents were gone. His dad still probably at work, his mom probably running a few errands. Naruto sighs and digs in his pocket for the house key. He unlocks the door and goes inside.

Naruto debates about doing his homework for a second and shakes his head. He throws his backpack in his room and walks into the kitchen. The blonde stops in front of the kitchen's set of knives. He gulps, his hand twitches. Naruto scans the room out of paranoia and snags one of the knives.

He dashes into his room and locks the door and sits down on his bed. The blonde stares at the knife in his hand, suddenly unsure of why he grabbed it in the first place. What was he thinking? The teenager twirls the weapon in hand absent mindedly. Why did he take the stupid knife with him in his room?

The blonde stops twirling the knife and grabs a hold of it tightly, his knuckles turning white. He holds it to his arm, ready to slice the skin open. Naruto feels frozen, like a block of ice. Just what the hell is he doing? Is he seriously going to cut himself? What is he thinking?

Nothing.

Naruto takes in a shaky breath and starts to move the knife away from his arm. But then he immediately swipes the knife across his skin. The blonde drops the knife onto the floor and clutches his bleeding arm in pain. He bites the inside of his cheeks to keep from crying out.

"Damn it," he mutters while slowly exhaling. Naruto berates himself for doing something so stupid and picks up the knife. Before he goes over to his door, he grabs an old shirt and wraps it around his arm and then leaves to clean the knife of his blood. After cleaning the knife and putting it back where it belongs, Naruto goes to patch up his wound and then throw away his shirt.

"I'm not going to make it, am I?" the blonde asks himself as he throws away the blood stained shirt. "Are _you_ going to make it...Gaara?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Comatose (Who Hurts More?)**

* * *

"Naruto, will you please come out of your room?" a familiar voice calls to him. It was his mom.

"Hang on…" the blonde groans and fights against the blankets to get out of bed. He hears a few pens and pencils fall to the floor, and then a loud slam from a textbook. That sends him straight up into a sitting position.

"What was that?" his mother asks with surprise. Naruto yawns and looks over the edge of the bed and sees his textbook on the floor. The blonde sighs and gets up out of bed and starts to stretch. He was trying to do his school but ended up falling asleep while doing it.

"Don't worry, just a book from school," Naruto explains. His arms fall to his sides, but something catches his attention. He raises his arm up to see a few bandages covering up a cut. A cut that he inflicted upon himself earlier today. Naruto quickly puts on a jacket so his mom doesn't see it.

"Oh, well, dinner is ready," she informs him. Naruto smiles slightly and opens the door to see his mother. She smiles but then notices the jacket. "It's not cold in here, why wear the jacket?"

Naruto protectively puts a hand over his injured arm, but forces out the best smile he could muster. "I know, I just...like wearing this jacket, you know?"

His mother smiles a little before putting a hand on his shoulder. "Right. Now, let's go eat, okay?"

The blonde nods and they go into the kitchen together. The kitchen has a nice smell of food to it now. Naruto's dad was already at the table eating. Naruto and his mom sit down and they all eat together in silence. It was almost uncomfortable, but at the same time calming. There was no need of conversation, but the silence was also unnerving.

Naruto reaches for the pepper shaker, and the sleeve of his jacket pulls up on his arm, revealing some of the bandages. The blonde mentally curses when his mother looks up and catches sight of his arm. She drops her silverware and grabs her son's arm, pulling the sleeve all the way back.

"Ow! Mom, what are you-"

"What is this?! What happened!?" she shouts at him, worry painted all over her face. Naruto tries to jerk his arm back, but his mother is actually a lot stronger than he is.

"It's nothing! Don't worry about it!" the blonde retorts, still trying to free his arm from his mother's grasp to no avail.

"What's going on? What happened?" Naruto's dad asks, worry in his voice as he observes his wife and son.

"I'm taking the bandages off, I need to see if everything's okay," she says as she grabs the bandages, ready to tear them off. Naruto shakes his no, trying to protest against these actions. But she already tears them off, and Naruto's skin suddenly feels like it's on fire as he yelps in pain. His mother stares at the burning red cut on his arm. She looks horrified.

"Mom, I…I did…that," the blonde says in a quiet voice.

Silence fills the kitchen, no one talks. Naruto's dad stands up and leaves the table goes out into the living room. Nobody blames him though. This kind of situation, how do you deal with it? Naruto's mom just sits there, staring at the injury, but her fingers lightly trace the cut over and over, like she's making sure it's real.

Naruto sits there, staring intently at the table like it's the most interesting thing in the world. He didn't want to look at his mom and see such a hurt expression on her face, like his injury hurt her more than it hurt him. Maybe that's true.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto mumbles as tears roll down his face and drip onto the wooden table. His mom looks up at him and quickly embraces him in a hug. Naruto hides his face in his mother's long, red hair. She just hugs him, but her own tears slip down her face.

"It's okay, Naruto," she whispers, sadness in her voice. "It's okay."


	6. Chapter 6

**Comatose (News at the Hospital)**

* * *

The blonde refuses to go to school today, and after what happened last night, his parents are actually fine with that. If he needs a break then he needs a break. There's a lot of stress that he's dealing with, sometimes you need to just stop and calm down.

His dad would be at work, but his mom always stays home unless something needs to be done. Naruto was going to stay home today, but later he wanted to go to the hospital. He just felt the need to be there by Gaara's side.

Naruto peeks out from behind his door and sees his mom laying down on the couch reading a book. The blonde leaves his room and goes into the bathroom to take a shower, taking some clothes in there with him. He closes the door and turns on the water so it could warm up before he stepped in.

After a while, the blonde gets in the shower and stands under the water. His eyes are fixated on his arm where he brought the knife down on himself. It was like an old scar already, not in looks, but they way he felt about it. Like it's already been there for some much longer and was already scarred over.

Naruto sighs and grabs the shampoo in order to wash his hair. He closes his eyes so the soap wouldn't get in his eyes and burn. That's happened so many times that it's not even funny. Washing out the shampoo from his hair, Naruto hears a clatter in the kitchen and his mom swear.

"You okay?" the blonde calls from the shower. His mom laughs.

"Yeah. Just dropped the stupid frying pan," she answers. Naruto could almost see the slightly embarrassed smile on her face.

"What were you trying to do?"

"I picked it up so I could make some lunch for us," his mother replies. "Just something simple, like grilled cheese sandwiches. Want one when you get come out?"

He smiles. "Yeah, sure. That sounds good."

The blonde finishes his shower soon afterwards and puts on this clothes he brought in the bathroom with him. Just a shirt and a pair of pants. He throws his other clothes his room and closes the door and walks into the kitchen. It smelled like grilled cheese sandwiches, which always kind of smells weird.

Naruto looks at the table and sees a sandwich where he usually sits. He thanks his mom and sits down and takes a bite. Warm, comforting in a way. His mom always made food seem like that. It was nice.

Soon, Naruto's mother sits down across from him with her own sandwich. They eat silence, which was okay for the time being. Naruto didn't really want to talk after what happened last night while they were eating dinner. He figured his mom didn't want to talk too much either. And it didn't help the fact that the cut running down his arm was out there in the open.

"So," his mother says, breaking the silence. The blonde takes a large bite of his sandwich that was almost gone now. "I have to go into town after I drop you off at the hospital. Do you know how long you're planning on staying there?"

"I figured just a few hours, but I'll call you when I decide to go home," Naruto answers. His mom nods her head and tells him that they go can after they finish lunch.

"And when you dry your hair," she adds, reaching across the table and running her hand through his wet, blonde hair. The teenager chuckles.

"Right, Mom."

After that, Naruto goes back into the bathroom, grabs his towel and dries his hair with it. He stands up and shakes his head. Looking in the mirror, he sees that his hair kind of looks fluffy. The blonde rolls his eyes and hangs his towel up and exits the bathroom.

Naruto goes into the entryway, where his mom is waiting, and puts on his shoes. They both go outside and into his mom's car. And on they go to the hospital, driving in a calm silence. Once they pull into the parking lot, Naruto gets out and waves goodbye to his mom as she pulls out. Turning around to face the hospital, he heads inside.

The blonde walks past several of the doctors and nurses, going straight to the only the one room where his friend is. However, before he reaches the room, two familiar people come before him. Two people he was hoping to avoid for a little bit longer.

"Temari, Kankuro...I,uh-" Naruto stutters, unable to fit his sentences together correctly. He can't even come up with a sentence to say to them. The blonde suddenly wished he had stayed home.

"Naruto, we think you might to hear something," Temari says. Did he really want to? Their faces weren't giving anything away, that something good happened, that something bad happened. Naruto tries not to make it obvious that he's gulping down that small bit of fear and guilt.

_It was my fault,_ Naruto thinks. That one thought repeats in his head for what seems like hours, but it's only been a few seconds. Luckily, what comes out of his mouth is different from that rotten thought. "What is it?"

"The nurse just told us that Gaara will have a chance of waking up soon, tomorrow most likely," Kankuro says. "Maybe even late tonight. But that's just us hoping, to be honest."

The blonde suddenly feels all the pressure weighing down on his shoulders get removed. It was all gone, and he could actually breathe with over flowing amounts of relief. His best friend might wake up late tonight. _Tonight!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Comatose (Tears of Happiness)**

* * *

Naruto stands at the nurses' counter, dialing his mom's number on their phone. He brings it up to his ear and waits for her to pick up. After the fourth ring, she answers.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's me. Change of plans, I'm going to stay at the hospital a lot longer," the blonde informs her.

"Why? What happened?" there was concern and worry in her voice. She probably thought something happened to her son. Which is understandable since she is the mother a teenaged boy that has been going through a few issues these past few days.

"Gaara might wake up late tonight, and I just I'd stay and wait," Naruto says, face turning a light shade of pink for reasons unknown. It was irritating, to say the least.

His mother sighs, but it wasn't an annoyed sigh. Not at all. "Alright. Just don't annoy the nurses."

He laughs. "No promises. Bye, Mom!"

"Goodbye!"

Naruto hangs up the phone and continues on to Gaara's hospital room. Kankuro and Temari left because they had things to set up for when their brother returned home. They didn't really show it, but the blonde could tell they were extremely relieved to hear such good news. It was natural to celebrate, right?

The blonde enters the room notices a few differences. There were flowers and cards on the once empty table in the room. Naruto smiles slightly, knowing that there were other people who cared. But then the smile disappears.

All this time he's been sobbing over his best friend, he didn't even bother to make a card or a letter. He's always done those sort of things, it felt right to do them. But the thought hasn't even occurred to make one for Gaara.

Naruto curses at himself and searches the room for some paper. He hopes that the doctors don't mind him stealing some extra pieces of paper. Despite the fact that he always writes letters, it always takes him forever to find the right words.

The blonde sits down in a chair in front of the little counter desk in the room. He finds a pen and holds it near the a piece of paper, waiting for the words to come to him. After a few minutes, he's an idea of what to write. Naruto starts to write the first few sentences, but it starts to not make much sense anymore. He crumples the paper and tosses it on the floor for now.

He tries again, but the same thing happens and the paper gets crumpled and tossed onto the floor. This process repeats itself for almost half an hour. Almost all the papers are crumpled and on the floor, waiting to be thrown away. His thoughts weren't coming together correctly in order for him to put it onto to paper. Why does this always happen?

Finally, he gets it. Putting down just the few sentences, the little letter is finally done. It really was just a little letter. But he felt like it got the point across. He admitted something on there he didn't think would come across his mind. It was right there on the paper now though. And he knew it was the truth.

Naruto folds the paper and sets it on the desk. When he looks behind and sees the large pile of crumpled papers, he groans. Quickly, he throws them all away in the trash bin in a small corner in the room. Hopefully nobody really needed any of those papers.

The blonde grabs the letter and then pulls the chair over to the left side of the hospital bed. He stuffs the paper in the pocket in his shorts and sits down. Naruto looks over at Gaara and instead of crying in sadness and guilt, he cries in relief and happiness.

The tears just spill down his face, like his eyes were running faucets. Naruto tries to stop crying, but he can't. However, it didn't bother him so much as it would normally have. He's happy. He's happy that his best friend is going to be okay.

Naruto grabs Gaara's limp hand and brings it up to his face. He was cold, he was always colder than him. The blonde shivers at the contact of Gaara's cold hand against his hot face. His tears fall onto his friend's hand and slide down his arm.

"You know what, Gaara?" Naruto sniffs. His hand reaches to mess with the redhead's hair. It was soft. "After you get out of this hospital, I'm dragging you to my house. We're going to watch lame ass horror movies and eat microwave popcorn. And then...and then…"

Naruto laughs to himself. He feels tired all of a sudden. Sleep was calling him. "I'm going to...we're gonna…"

The blonde lowers his head, eyes half way closed. A yawn escapes past his mouth, the sudden tiredness overcoming him. Naruto rests his head on the hospital bed and closes his eyes and falls asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Comatose (Kiss at the End)**

* * *

It was dark, suffocating, and terrifying. It was like a black sea of death. No matter how hard he tried to break free into the surface and breathe, something continued to drag him down. Only once was he able to feel the cool air on his skin. His hand managed to break through. But as soon that happened, something grabbed him and pulled him down.

The redheaded teenager doesn't know how long he's been in this dark sea, but it feels like it's been an eternity. He almost wanted to give up and just accept his fate that he will die. But that other part of him that wanted to live, it screamed at him to never give up. Not until his very last dying breath.

His arms flail, hands trying to grab on to something in order to bring him to the surface. He kicks his legs, trying to get to the place with air so he could breathe again. To breathe air again, to get out of the choking sea of darkness.

Almost there. He's almost there, he could feel it. The redhead thrusts his hands upward, hoping to feel that cool air on his hands again. He feels it. It was cool- no, freezing. But that was okay. It was air.

Something grabs one of his legs and starts to drag him back down again. His hands go back under the water, the air disappears. He thrashes, trying to break free of whatever it was pulling him down. The redhead starts to panic, not wanting to stay in the darkness any long. He wanted out, he wanted to breathe again. It's been too long.

"_No!_" he screams. For a second, the thing lets go. Taking his chance, the redhead swims upwards, as quickly as possible. He didn't want to go back down again. He wanted to breathe and feel the freezing air on his skin.

Closing his eyes, the redhead breaks through the black sea. It was freezing, but so much better. Taking in a lung full of air, he opens his eyes and everything becomes blurry and white. He blinks in confusion, trying to clear his vision. It was a white room.

There's a beeping sound beside him, and he tries to turn his head to see what it was. But a splitting pain in his head stops him. He cringes and brings a hand to cradle his head. However, he stops when he sees multiple tubes in his arm.

He tries to bring up his other hand, but realizes that it was being held down. The redhead, while cringing, turns his head to his left. There was a blonde teenager resting his head on his arm, asleep. The other male narrows his eyes when the blonde mumbles about something in his sleep.

The redhead slowly sits up and uses his other hand to shake the person awake. When the other teenager lifts his head up, eyes still filled with sleep, the redhead's own eyes widen in surprise. He knew him.

"Na...Naruto?" he questions hoarsely. Recognition flickers across the blonde's face. He glances around, like he was making sure nothing had changed. Then he latches on to the redhead in a tight hug.

"Gaara!" Naruto cries. The redhead winces but hugs him back anyway. Naruto feels the tears run down his face and onto the fabric of the hospital gown. Gaara doesn't mind though. He strokes his friend's back, trying to calm him down. The blonde kept shaking from his sobs.

"What...happened?" Gaara asks. Naruto pulls away and looks at him. His blue eyes flicker, like he was studying his face. The redhead gives him a quizzical look. "Naruto, what happened? Why…?"

The blonde sighs and looks away for a second, wipes away any remaining tears, then looks back at him. "You, um," he sniffs. "You were in a small coma, I guess. Um, since Saturday, it's-" he looks out the window, the sky was black, then looks back at him. "-Tuesday, maybe Wednesday now."

Gaara frowns. Then he notices the cut on the blonde's arm. He starts to reach for it, but Naruto jerks away and hides his arm behind his back. The redhead gives him a hard look, but his friend just looks away. Gaara grabs Naruto's face with both hands to make him look him in the eyes.

"Naruto, what happened?" he asks slowly. Naruto closes his eyes.

"I was upset and I wasn't really thinking correctly," he admits.

The redhead's gaze softens. Naruto sighs and opens his eyes to look at his friend again. Silence hangs over them like a curtain. But it was an awkward kind of silence. Gaara's hands were still holding Naruto's face, and Naruto couldn't help but stare into his friend's eyes. That interesting shade of blue-green. No, it was a pale mint color. Yes, that was the color.

Naruto finds himself leaning into Gaara's personal space, but the latter wasn't moving an inch. When they're only a few centimeters apart, both their faces turn a late shade of pink. And before he knows it, Naruto closes the gap and kisses Gaara. _On the lips._

Gaara's lips were rough against his own. But the blonde doesn't mind. What surprises him though, is the fact that his best friend is actually kissing him back. And they weren't breaking apart, what was going on? But does he really care? No, not really.

When they finally separate, Gaara looks shocked by his own actions, like he couldn't believe what he just did. Naruto just has this expression of happiness. Then he jumps a little in excitement and sticks his hand in his pocket, trying to grab something.

"Oh! I meant to give you this," he pulls out a folded piece of paper. "It's a short little letter I wrote for you. Um, yeah. Here." The blonde hands it over to Gaara. But he doesn't take it, instead he just looks at Naruto.

"Why don't you just read it to me?"

Naruto feels his face burn a hot red color. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly and then brings the piece of paper closer to him. Unfolding it, he reads over what he wrote and debates about reading it out loud or not. He decides not to.

Instead, he tosses the paper to the floor and grabs his friend. "Eh, maybe later."

Gaara smiles and the two boys lean in and kiss each other on the lips again. The paper lands on the floor, the few sentences facing upwards. On the paper it read,

_Dear Gaara,_

_You are my best friend. There really isn't any other way to say it. But, I think, after these past few days, that idea might have changed. Now I think you are more than just my best friend. I know it might sound stupid and crazy, but…_

_Gaara, I love you._

_Sincerely,  
Naruto_


End file.
